Essence excerpt 2 - Steven

A/N: Since he won the poll, here’s one of Steven’s shorter scenes with a transition into one of Daemon’s at the end. Like the last excerpt, it’s still pretty rough, so feedback is not only welcome but treasured and mounted on my wall…except not really. Please. I’m not that creepy.

This takes place on Alice’s fifth day, her second in the “oasis.” She is uncertain how her new acquaintances will affect her future, which is largely uncertain itself; despite her plans to leave the hideout, she enjoys their company after so much isolation.

I don’t think anything needs explaining other than “Dave” and “Sonya,” two radio hosts from an unsettling broadcast Alice hears on her second night, and Ivan’s partners: Grime is “short” and “always fuming” like before, as Steven says, but Putrice now has a robotic arm. The "game" Steven and Acer mention is the "contest" to see who Alice chooses to work with. Also, Alice does not constantly stutter like she did in the previous excerpt; after Linus repairs her internal heater, she does not shiver and stammer as much.

A key for the dialogue – A for Alice, S for Steven, Ac for Acer, D for Daemon, AM for Anchorman, AW for Anchorwoman.

===

The fragrance of biscuits only leads me to soggy crumbs in the kitchen sink. But one peek into the garage cures my disappointment.

I make a beeline for the motorcycle, breezing by the dingy crossover and coupe. As the sunlight strikes the metal, the grip taunts me to twist it, the leather to straddle it. I grind my teeth, crouching before I give in, and distract myself staring at the blades inside the wheels.

For all my effort, I only hurt the bike when someone moves and I smack my head. But nothing else answers the metal’s cry. After a minute I creep toward the window, where puffs of smoke bloom and fade.

Only smoke – no fire, nothing else.

Before I can retreat, a pebble smacks the glass. I inch closer, but a single culprit haunts the window, having thrown itself just as the smoke lights itself.

I turn from the pebble –

A: “AAAAAGH!”

-- to find glasses and boxers looming right behind me.

Through the window on the patio, nonetheless, but the glass does nothing to soften Steven’s laughter.

A: “Grrrrr…..”

As I rush outside for vengeance, Steven doubles over hooting. I’m amazed at how quickly my vision clears when he drops his cigarette and grinds it into the porch.

A: “W…wait…You didn’t have to stop for me.”

S: “Heehhh…hooo…So…you’re gonna come and strangle me, but you won’t deny me a final smoke? Heh…heh…it’s the least I can do, Pink, when you’re not killin’ me for scarin’ you again.”

A: “Hmmm. Haven’t spared you yet. ‘Cause you’ve got a real problem.”

S: “Hmmm. Does the problem have to do with my underhanded deeds…or my underwear?”

A: “Ggghh – l-look, I – ”

How quickly I forget that the eyes I can’t see can see mine perfectly fine.

A: “I was looking at the pattern.”

S: “Well…penguins are pretty sweet, but you don’t have to explain yourself for staring at my boxers.”

A: “S-…sorry. Do what you want, but everyone else I talked to was dressed this morning.”

S: “Tch…I find it hard to believe there’re people who put clothes on before noon.”

S: “…Seriously, though. Once you contract it, that’s it. It’s quick, but it’s torture. We’re all lucky we weren’t infected or we wouldn’t have made it.”

Watching weeds skid the sand, I wonder if ‘lucky’ is the right word. Even in the oasis, demons uproot life, but Cath still resisted their scourge in the lab. How did he survive a hundred blighted corpses for nine months? He must’ve been vaccinated – or –

S: “I’m lucky to be alive…but I feel luckier to have the people I’ve got. Don’t know what I’d do without at least one love to wake up ‘n make breakfast for naked e’ery mornin’.”

A: “Does the hideout’s invisibility have anything to do with yours?”

S: “It hurts when you don’t even react, Pink.”

A: “I know. It’s negative reinforcement.”

S: “What would you think if I was naked except for an apron?”

A: “…No.”

S: “It’s not a shameful fantasy.”

A: “I think you’re getting shamefully desperate.”

S: “…Desperate for ice cream. Wanna?”

A: “For breakfast?...Why not, I guess?”

He stomps his cigarette and leaps around me to hold the door, though he sighs as I duck by.

He plops down, eating, but my ice cream’s good as mush once he starts the TV.

So perky he’d shame Sonya, an anchorman springs from the close of an insurance ad.

AM: “Goooood moooorning, Southwest! Hope you’re all up and at ‘em by a quarter past nine, because our resident heroes have been hard at work as always. That’s right – time for Elizabeth’s Morning Miracle Workers.”

A cheery old woman dubs clips of neon clowns in gray streets hammering beams, ladling soup, and stuffing bins with recyclables. While a withered man stoops to plant a lily, a fluorescent tween girl ties a scarf around his neck.

AW: “As you can see, there’s no age limit on the love our devoted military spreads. Through local politicians’ generous donations, our soldiers have tirelessly worked toward restoring our fields, highways, and homes.”

From the grandpa’s sniffling, the camera snails back until the white colossus shading his garden crams the shot.

AW: “I’m proud to announce the opening of a new SBBH in Clovis, where the poor, homeless, and downtrodden devastated by Blight’s impact are invited to come receive food, shelter, and treatment.”

The cameraman plods through shiny laboratories, where smiling doctors take patients’ temperatures, and posh bedrooms, where clowns stroke the grease from rasping children’s heads.

AW: “As you know, our new Sacred Beacon Blight Home is part of the national effort to combat this tragedy with unparalleled care. In order to provide new treatments the moment they’re devised, luxurious patient quarters are built side-by-side with state-of-the-art research facilities.”

A: “They’re…quarantining the people who have no way to avoid contracting it.”

S: “Bingo.”

AM: “Thank you, Elizabeth. By uniting the most compassionate service force with the most brilliant professionals, hope is being fostered in those who may feel hopeless.”

S: “There’d be plenty of hope if the big boys freely distributed the vaccination. They very well have the power to. But they don’t want that.”

S: “…Can’t say I didn’t see this comin’. Glad you’re out. I always knew you liked that pierced green fellow a little more than platonically – the one from that…’Sabbatical Girder’…whatever-it’s-called game?”

Ac: “Oh my God, shut up, no, I just wanna plays cards with ‘im. My server’s down and I just wanna play – ”

S: “ – with an unpierced green fellow.”

Almost on cue, the unpierced green fellow peeks around the portal, recoiling an inch for every inch Acer’s grin spreads. As Acer calls him in, I try to puzzle out why the hideout’s shiest resident hesitates to join the most rambunctious, but Daemon finally floats in at the prospect of a game.

D: “I…c-came in...to listen…”

Leafy bangs veiling his cheeks, he dips his neck and sways the sprouts toward a CD-covered stereo.

Ac: “That’s cool, man, that’s cool…WAIT – ”

When Acer gasps, Daemon’s saggy clothes jump with him. They practically drop off his bones when they settle.

Ac: “We could use my boombox – and take it outside – and go frickin’ picnickin’.”

S: “Pffffffffffff, we know you don’t go outside, Ace. Just leave Daemon to it. Y’feelin’ better, by the way?”

While he’s less pale than yesterday, Daemon still frowns at the question.

D: “I’m…just fine. A-and I don’t mind going out.”

He barely breathes the words before Acer darts, grabs the player, and hounds us outside. Scuttling beside Daemon, who only hurries at Acer’s cries, I wonder if we both play along because we have nothing better to do. I try to read his face – looking down before he notices – but I stare at his polka-dotted socks so long his cheeks flush anyhow.

As far as the whole script goes, this scene is more straightforward; not much detail or drama, but it still peeks at the state of civilization in the game. It's also calmer for a "Steven" scene, but his others would need more editing in order to share them ;D; I'm sorry that Steven's distracting pen....guin boxers are all I can give you right now.

Also, don't smoke. It's bad for you. Even if you have something mellower than tobacco growing in your shady garden. Even if it happens to be exactly 4:20.

Yay, a Steven scene! So, you decided to give him penguin boxers this time, hehe. X3 Man, I really love Steven's sense of humor, it's nice to read something new of him. ^^I see you're giving us more details on the blight and how society reacted to it, that's nice. ^^ I've been curious to know how Cath survived since the first time I played, but I guess you won't tell us so early, will you? XDI'm so excited, I see the final version of Essence is going to be awesome! X3

Yeah, I wanna make him multiple pairs of boxers (with diff. patterns) once I redraw his sprite, but I wanted to go with penguins this time since they're his favorite I'm glad you enjoyed the passage and his humor ;u; it's always fun to write his snark...and i enjoy writing the other characters' reactions to him about as much as he likes watching them react XD

hahaha even if they're manipulating the populace, I still find Malware more tolerable than the Insane Clown Posse XDD;; but that's just me; no offense to actual fans. I just hope no one imagined real clowns when they read the passage As ridiculous and impractical as their uniforms get (Putrice), they still don't walk around with bright red wigs and facepaint. That would kinda negate their aim to appear innocuous, considering how many people are terrified of clowns XD never been scared myself, but I can certainly understand it.

Lol it's all good. To be honest, I'm not sure if I know any of their songs, I just knew about them in the 90s because some of my friends listened to them. I know they aren't dressed like that, but the joke came to mind none the less . Me either, but apparently creepy pasta isn't helping...